Stay With Me (The Montgomery Brothers) (8 page)

He strode down the hall to the bedroom and stopped dead in his tracks.  The lights were dimmed and there was wine on the night stand.  Sprawled on her belly across the bed in a tiny pair of navy blue panties and a tight white tank top lay Gina.  Her hair was fanned out beside her and one leg was bent and the overall view was spectacular. 

“I can’t fight this anymore,” he said to her as he walked farther into the room.  “I know I said that it couldn’t happen again, but I’m just not strong enough to resist you, Gina.”  And the truth was that he knew it all along.  Somehow, from the first moment he’d seen her in the airport, Mac had been drawn to her and it was only fitting that he finally admit to it and enjoy it.  “I’m sorry for walking out on you the other night; I was wrong.”  Mac was standing next to the bed and heard Gina’s shuttering sigh. 

She was asleep.

Here he was thinking that she was trying to seduce him and the truth was that she didn’t even know he was here.  He hung his head in disappointment and that’s when he realized that something was, indeed, wrong.  There were tissues scattered on the bed and on the floor and some of them had blood on them.  The bottle of wine was half empty.  Stepping away from the bed he walked back toward the kitchen where he noticed that there was a second bottle of wine; it was empty.  What the hell had gone on here?

Gina’s phone was on the counter and he didn’t think twice about picking it up and seeing if he
could find out if she had maybe gotten a call from the hospital about her father.  He scrolled and saw that the only call she had received today was from her mother.  From everything Gina had shared with him, he knew that it was completely plausible that there had been some sort of argument that led to her being upset.

He just couldn’t imagine what could have possibly been said to make Gina
this
upset.  Placing the phone back on the counter, Mac walked back to the bedroom and looked at the woman who was slowly working her way into his life, his mind and his heart.  It angered him that anyone would upset her to this point and he couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this protective over a woman.

He sighed and went about cleaning up the space.  He took the wine and the glass back to the kitchen and then cleaned up the mess out there.  By now it was nearing eleven and while he knew he should leave, he had a feeling that she was going to be feeling like hell come morning after all of the alcohol she had consumed. 

Back in the bedroom he gently moved her so that he could get her under the blankets.  She sighed and he could only hope that she would simply sleep it off and not get sick in the night.  There was a large chaise lounge in the corner of the room and Mac kicked off his shoes, removed his tie, unbuttoned his shirt and made himself comfortable.  Whatever it was that had happened he didn’t want Gina to wake up alone – especially if she was sick.

With the lights off and only the glow of the moon coming through the windows, Mac let himself relax.  He knew when he was driving over here earlier that he wasn’t going home tonight; he had just hoped that it meant that he also wasn’t sleeping alone.  Or sleeping at all, for that matter.  This was new territory for him and as much as he wanted to obsess about it and come up with a plan for how it was all going to pan out, he realized that he was far more exhausted than he had thought. 

The woman was tiring as hell and all she’d done was pass out before he could get to her.

He could only imagine what she was going to be like once she was awake.

Chapter Six

Whoever was pounding on the door was going to get an earful.  Gina slowly rolled onto her back and stretched and wondered who would be knocking on the door at…well, she wasn’t ready to open her eyes to see exactly what time it was but she was sure it was an ungodly hour. 

Several things occurred to her at once; she didn’t remember crawling under the blankets, the pounding wasn’t someone at the door but going on in her head and the room was spinning.  “Crap,” she mumbled and placed both of her hands on her head in hopes of making the spinning stop.  “Crap, crap, crap…”

And that’s when she heard the chuckle.

Glancing in between the fingers that were now shielding her eyes from the light, she saw Mac standing in the corner of the room.  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice raw and scratchy.

Mac stretched and walked to the side of the bed.  “I came to check on you last night and found you passed out cold.  I cleaned up the broken glass and threw out the uneaten food and figured there’d be a good chance of you not feeling so hot either overnight or this morning and I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

She should have been touched by his considerateness, but she wasn’t.  Right now it just pissed her off.  He was here to babysit her. 
Again.  He hadn’t come here because of the kiss the other night, he hadn’t come because he was going crazy without her; he was here because he was obligated to.  That thought made her frown and frowning caused her head to throb even more.  “Fabulous,” she grumbled and kicked the blankets off, heedless to the fact that she was half naked.

When she sat up too quick, she groaned and then almost punched Mac when she heard him chuckle again.  Without opening her eyes she heard him leave the room and breathed a sigh of relief.  Her throat was dry and her tongue felt like it was the size of her fist.  Why did she even think drinking so much wine on an empty stomach was a good idea? 
That’s what she got for being rebellious.

Gina did her best to pry her eyes open and there standing before her in all of his bare chested glory stood Mac.  He had a glass of water in one hand and held the other out toward her.  She saw the Ibuprofen tablets and greedily reached for them.  He handed her the water and she drank the entire glass down as if she’d been walking in the dessert for days.  “Thank you.”

Mac helped her to her feet and she stumbled in to him.  When her hand touched his chest she stopped and leaned her head against him and just waited for the spinning to stop.  Well, that and she just really was a glutton for punishment who wanted to touch this man.  “Are you okay?” he whispered. 

Rather than answer or even look at him, Gina forced herself to move.  Doing her best to focus on taking one step at a time, she walked away from where she most wanted to be and headed toward the bathroom to try and put herself back together again.  Mac didn’t speak or follow and she didn’t look back at him.  Gingerly closing the door
behind her, Gina merely groaned at her appearance.  Her hair was wild, her eyes were puffy and basically the only thing she had to be grateful for was the fact that she had already washed her makeup off before her crying jag because otherwise she was certain she’d look like a hung over drag queen.

It was no wonder Mac had no trouble staying away from her; every time he saw her it seemed like she was a wreck of some kind. 
Refusing to let her mind go there right now, she did her best to start to feel more human again.  The cold water on her face certainly had the desired effect to wake her up and brushing her teeth made her able to swallow without grimacing.  They were baby steps but she’d take them.  Her robe was back in the bedroom so she had no choice but to walk back out there in her underwear and hope that Mac had the decency to leave.

He didn’t.

She found him placing a cup of tea on the night stand and waiting for her return.  As she approached, she refused to make eye contact with him.  When Gina sat back down on the bed, she noticed the plate of toast beside the tea.  “Thank you,” she said quietly and reached for the steaming mug first.  The first sip was heavenly and she twisted around so that she was reclining against the pillows that Mac had stacked for her.

Why did he have to be considerate on top of everything else?  And why wouldn’t he just leave?  The last thing Gina wanted was an audience to her pathetic life.  “As you can tell, I’m not going to be sick; I feel like hell but other than that, I’m fine.  I’m sure you need to get to work so please don’t feel like you need to stay and babysit.”

He walked around the side of the bed and sat down beside her.  He stretched out his feet and stacked his hands behind his head on the pillow, not looking at her either.  “Want to talk about it?” he asked casually.

“About what?”  Gina placed the mug down and reached for the toast.

“About whatever it is that had you on a binge last night?”

The toast tasted like sawdust in her mouth but she forced herself to finish the half slice before answering him.  “
How do you know I don’t binge every night?” she snapped at him and when he looked at her with disbelief, she decided to go for more snark.  “Don’t worry, it wasn’t over you.”

He gave a mirthless laugh.  “I didn’t think that it was but thanks for the ego boost.”  Mac turned his head toward her.  “Seriously, what happened?”

Why wouldn’t he just leave? She thought to herself.  Why did he have to now be lying beside her, his shirt unbuttoned and open and revealing a very well muscled chest that she wanted to lay her head down on until her world was okay again?  “My mother called.  We argued.  I drank more than I should on an empty stomach.  End of story.”

Mac stared at her and although she still wouldn’t meet his eyes, he knew she was lying; there was more to it than that simple explanation.  “
Really?” he asked sarcastically.

Gina finally faced him, her face full of defiance.  “Yes, really.  Now you’ve done your good deed for the day and you can leave.”

His expression instantly hardened at her dismissal and although he wanted to lash out, he knew that wasn’t what Gina needed right now, and she was all that mattered.  “I saw your paintings; you’ve been busy.”

She paled.  “So…what, you came over, let yourself in and then snooped around?”

“The door was unlocked, the music was playing, there was a movie on the television, every light in the place was on and the paintings are right out there in the middle of the room.  That’s hardly snooping.”

“Don’t you have someplace to be?” she whined.  “I mean really, aren’t you a workaholic or something?”  She just wanted him to go.  This was too much for her overly emotional state.

“I’m taking the morning off.”

She eyed him suspiciously.  “Your father found out that you were working late and that’s why you came over and why you can’t go into work this morning.  That’s it, isn’t it?”

He smiled sheepishly.  “That’s part of it but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to be here.”

“Why?” she asked with a dramatic sigh.  “Is it entertaining for you to watch a train wreck?”

“You’re not a train wreck, Gina; you’re someone who is going through a tough time right now.  We’re friends, right?  I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.”

Friends
.  Fabulous.  Just freakin’ fabulous.

One look at Gina’s face and Mac knew that he’d said something wrong.  Why didn’t women come with a manual?  He thought he was being a good guy and it pissed her off.  He thought he was being a good son by working hard and it pissed his father off.  Hell, it seemed like no matter what he did, someone was pissed at him!  He was just about to rant about it but noticed
a single tear slowly making its way down Gina’s cheek.

At thirty-five, Mac had thought that he was immune to a woman’s tears.  At this stage in his life, he thought that he was okay with being alone.  Somehow, over the last week, his time with Gina had changed him.  Back when they were growing up, he really hadn’t paid any attention to her; she was the very young daughter to his father’s friend.  But now?  Her parentage hadn’t changed but he couldn’t seem to make himself stop paying attention to her.

Mac turned on his side and reached out to cup Gina’s face so that she was forced to look at him.  His dark gaze met hers and he wiped that single tear away with the pad of his thumb.  “I hate to see you cry,” he said, his voice a deep whisper.  “I hate to think of anyone upsetting you and more than anything, I hate to think that I can’t make it better.”

Gina was taken back by his words.  Never in her life had anyone wan
ted to defend her or even seem to care about the things that had hurt her.  She leaned her cheek into his large hand as she closed her eyes and sighed.  It was a good feeling.  The skin of his palm was rough and although she knew he worked in an office, he had the hands of a man who wasn’t afraid to do a hard day’s work. 

“If you really want me to leave, I’ll go,” he said softly, leaning toward her.  “But I’d really like to stay.”

She didn’t need to open her eyes to know that he was about to kiss her but that didn’t stop her from holding her breath in anticipation.  Mac’s lips were soft and gentle on hers; taking the time to simply place tiny kisses on her lips, her jaw and her cheek.  He rested his cheek against hers and simply let the skin on skin sensation wash over him.  His breath was hot on her ear as he said, “I never should have left the other night; I thought I was doing the right thing but the truth is, I wanted to stay then just like I want to stay now.”  He pulled back and waited until Gina opened her eyes.  “Ask me to stay.”

A shy smile crossed her lips and she blushed.  “Stay with me.”

No three words had ever had a more powerful effect.

Wha
t had been gentle before was now heated; what was sweet was now frantic.  They reached for one another at the same time and Mac rolled Gina under him and growled with the feel of her curvy body underneath his.  Her scantily-clad curvy body.  How had he managed to lie beside her when she wore little more than her underwear?  How had he been able to sit and have casual conversation when there was more of her golden skin bared to him than was hidden?

As close as they were, he wanted to be closer.  It was torture to take his mouth from hers but he straddled her hips and sat up to take his shirt off and then dove back down over her.  The feel of her breasts pressed up against his was sexy as hell and he was just settling back in with a kiss so hot that his skin felt scorched, when he felt Gina push at his shoulders.

“Mac,” she sighed, tearing her mouth from his.   He pulled back and looked at her, his breathing ragged.  Gina could see the heat and the uncertainty in his gaze, like he was afraid that she was going to tell him to stop.   Without breaking eye contact, Gina sat up and slowly crossed her arms in front of herself before lifting the tank top over her head.  She didn’t think Mac’s gaze could get any darker but the sight of her bared for him did just that.

She offered him another shy smile and reached out and raked her fingers through his hair.  Leaning forward until her mouth was a breath away from his she simply said, “Stay with me.”

****

The feeling of Gina’s breath on his chest and her head on his shoulder was something that Mac knew he could become addicted to.  Hours had gone by and in that span of time he had explored every inch of her body.  She was wrapped around him now, both of them near exhaustion and yet as her hand gently explored his chest, Mac knew he’d be more than willing to go another round.

He pulled her closer and sighed with contentment as he placed a kiss on top of her head.  “Why did you come here last night?” Gina asked quietly.  “Was it only because your father asked you to?”

Mac chuckled lightly.  “That was what I was telling myself but the truth was that I couldn’t stay away. 
I didn’t want to.  Ever since I left here that night, I’ve been making myself crazy in trying to stay away.”

She pulled back and looked at him.  “You didn’t have to stay away, Mac.  I told you that.”

He trailed a finger down her cheek to her chin.  “I didn’t want to feel like I was taking advantage of you.  You’re dealing with so much now and I didn’t want you to feel like I was…I don’t know…using that to my advantage.”

Gina laughed.  “But that’s crazy!  You weren’t taking advantage of me; I wanted you just as much as you wanted me.”  Her gaze darkened as a sexy smile played at her mouth.  “I still want you.”  She bent down and kissed her way across his chest, enjoying his sharp intake of breath.  “I’ve always wanted you.”  That wasn’t an admission she had ever planned on making and when Mac rolled her over and pinned her not only with his body but with his gaze, she knew that it didn’t do anything but turn him on.

There were a million thoughts racing through Mac’s head; things that he wanted to say and yet the sight of her beautiful face simply staggered him.  He hadn’t realized that he had said the words out loud until she reached up and caressed his face.  “No one’s ever told me that I’m beautiful.”

“You are.  When I saw you in the airport I was mesmerized by you.  I had no idea who you were but I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”  He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead.  “I still can’t.”

Gina began to shift underneath him to better align their bodies.  “I don’t want you to take your eyes, or anything else for that matter, off of me.”